Labour chiefs tell Brown: appoint a leader-in-waiting
Things are getting worse for Gordon Brown with Labour chiefs now demanding that he appoint a deputy who could replace him should power continue 'hemorrhaging' from his New Labour government.
I have never understood why Brown is persisting with this ridiculous 42 day extension bill, as this was one of the only places where Blair ever suffered a Commons defeat. Should Brown also suffer a defeat in this area he is not in the position of strength which Blair enjoyed and which enabled Blair to ride out the storm.If Brown loses a vote on his terrorism bill in two weeks' time, as expected, that would become the catalyst. The justice secretary Jack Straw, who has already privately signalled concerns about the measures to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days, is regarded as the most likely senior figure to move against him.
Ministers plan to demand Brown appoints a deputy Prime Minister to bolster his flagging appeal, ostensibly to free him up to focus on major issues - but offering potential rivals like David Miliband, Alan Johnson or Straw the chance to shine in the role. The deputy would then be in position for a smooth transition if Brown were forced out.
'The debate is about having a deputy Prime Minister, either somebody with that title or who fulfils that role,' said a senior minister. 'It is possible the game is not actually to wield the knife (against Brown directly) but to put Gordon in a position where he has no alternative but to agree to a deputy.'
One source close to Brown said he 'may not resist too hard', even though he scrapped the deputy Prime Minister post once held by John Prescott when he entered Number 10.
There is now talk that amongst Brown's inner circle people are urging him to go for broke and to pursue policies which, until now, he has feared as too controversial. I don't know what these policies are, but if they are Labour policies - as opposed to New Labour policies - the he should go for it. He desperately needs to put some distance between himself and the Tory party. In the past Blair stuck rigidly to the middle ground forcing whichever Tory leader he faced further and further to the right, essentially making themselves unelectable.
Cameron is not falling for that trick and is sticking just as rigidly to the middle ground as Blair once did, making the battle between Brown and Cameron essentially about which one of them comes across better on television, a battle which Gordon will always lose. Nothing hurt him more than his decision to remove the 10p income tax rate, which was seen as an attack on some of Britain's poorest citizens, something was is unforgivable in a Labour leader.
I think there is a genuine wish for him to return to Labour values and to stop offering us a lighter version of the Tory party.
It now appears that everyone is telling him the same thing, that if he continues on his present course then he is heading for almost certain electoral defeat. I hope he has the boldness to pursue Labour values and show Cameron as the fake that he actually is. One things for sure, he has nothing to lose at this stage.
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2 comments:
I don't know a lot about Straw, but my impression is that he's like Clinton wrt the "Republican-lite" tag.
My recollection is he supported the invasion of Iraq and defended it for years. He was later "fired" by Bush from whatever the British equivalent of the State Dept is for being insufficiently enthusiastic and supportive of WH policy. Has he made any statements in favour of withdrawal from Iraq/Afghanistan? British politics don't really penetrate American media very well, I'm afraid.
And could you expand a bit on how the 10P rate was an attack on the poorest citizens, please?
I'm trying to create parallels in American politics so that I can understand what you're conveying here.
Thanks.
Oh Todd, Straw is a total arsehole who backed the invasion 100%. He was the one who skipped around with Colin Powell at the UN like some kind of love sick puppy.
He was actually fired because he said it would be insanity to attack Iran and he called Bush's plans to use bunker busting nuclear weapons as "nuts". Bush objected and Blair, who always saw the UK as a sort of American aircraft carrier just off the coast of Europe, fired Straw for angering the Americans.
As for the 10p tax rate, even Brown now admits he made a mistake.
The basic tax rate used to be 22% for anyone earning under £34,600. However, there was a starting tax rate of 10% for the first £2,230. Brown brought the basic rate to 20% and abolished the 10 pence rate altogether. However, it was those earning the least who felt the loss of the ten pence rate as the first £5,225 of everyone's earnings is exempt from taxation. So people earning around £10,000 a year, who are the poorest parts of the population, suddenly found that £4,775 was being taxed at 20% whereas before the first £2,230 was only taxed at 10%.
It was a spectacular own goal, done with the best of intentions, but simply ill thought out.
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